The Orange Box Thread

[Peter Venkman]

hey guys, what are some steam names so i can build up my buddy list! I would enjoy playing with some CHUDS from here on out!

Can't wait for those new game play options...DAMN

[Justin Clark]

Would love to, but the majority of us are on 360, Venkman.

[Peter Venkman]

son of a.....damn you 360

[B_MetalSucks]

son of a.....damn you 360

PLAY CALL OF DUTY 4 NOW!!!:D:D

[Justin Clark]

Damned XBox Live wouldn't let me join up with you guys last night. Highly annoying considering that was the most Chewers I've seen playing the game in a while.

I hope our usual standards of excellence were upheld.

[matches]

We remained undefeated.

The game also received some minor graphical updates that Spike was completely enthralled with, and at one point we couldn't get Midi Pulse to stop staring at a newly rendered door while he was the lone defender on the captures point.

[Spike Marshall]

The shovel is completely new dammit

[Justin Clark]

So, the new maps, tweaks, and achievements are out....for PC.

I'm not even angry. I'm being so sincere right now. Even though Valve broke my heart and killed me.

Speaking of heartbreak:


Watch the whole thing anyway, cause, well, Zero Punctuation is awesome, but the real greatness starts at 3:42.

[bendrix]

I'm thinking what Justin meant to link to is here (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2928-Zero-Punctuation-Sim-City-Societies).


And on that note:

Collect all ten. (http://www.destructoid.com/elephant/photo-m.phtml?photo_key=30894&post_key=70068#prevnext)

[Justin Clark]

I'm thinking what Justin meant to link to is here (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2928-Zero-Punctuation-Sim-City-Societies).

Huh. I dunno where my link went. Anyway, yeah, that's what I was going for.

[Justin Clark]

Just beat Episode 2.

I want to have a Valve employee's baby.

[B_MetalSucks]

PLAY CALL OF DUTY 4 NOW!!!:D:D

^^^^

[Mental Weapon]

I know im late to the party but I just finished up Portal last night and..... like everyone else I have fallen in love with that song. Im not even mad GLaDOS was trying to kill me.

[Spike Marshall]

^^^^

We're still having fun with TF2 I'm afraid, you'll have to play angsty modern warfare em ups with every other member of chud.

[B_MetalSucks]

We're still having fun with TF2 I'm afraid, you'll have to play angsty modern warfare em ups with every other member of chud.

Nothing "angsty" about, just glorious glorious greatness. No offense meant, just inviting others who may have tired of swinging a wrench for 20 minutes straight. :D

[Spike Marshall]

You must have been a TERRIBLE engineer if all you did was smack your sentrys with a wrench.

The games we had tonight were a real highlight for how fun TF2 can be, whether it was me, Nate, Gravedigger and Justin having a party ontop of the shack on Gravel Pit or the insane rocket battles on the last few defences of Dustbowl the games were just awesome.

[gravedigger]

Indeed. That was the most fun I've had with TF2 yet. Wyld Stallyns!

Sorry I just disappeared. The game got all laggy on me and then it went kablooey. It was time for dinner anyway so I just called it a day.

[B_MetalSucks]

You must have been a TERRIBLE engineer if all you did was smack your sentrys with a wrench.

The games we had tonight were a real highlight for how fun TF2 can be, whether it was me, Nate, Gravedigger and Justin having a party ontop of the shack on Gravel Pit or the insane rocket battles on the last few defences of Dustbowl the games were just awesome.

Oh so I go play CoD4 for a while and you want to act like you don't remember me helping the CHUD cause in MANY MANY TF2 games?

Turncoat. :frown:

[gravedigger]

So I'm finally playing Half Life 2. I just got the Gravity Gun and I'm in the tunnel to Ravenholm. This better get awesome soon like a lot of you have said because so far it's bo-ring.

[Justin Clark]

Oh it does. Do yourself a favor: Kill the lights. Turn up the volume.

[A-Pathetic]

Oh it does. Do yourself a favor: Kill the lights. Turn up the volume.

Ravenholme was the least fun I had in the game. Good atmosphere, that's about it. The game picked up in a big way after that.

[bendrix]

Ravenholme was the least fun I had in the game. Good atmosphere, that's about it. The game picked up in a big way after that.

While I had fun in Ravenholm, the level's difficulty was not cool. In my mind, nothing in that game was harder than the constantly respawning enemies and the insane tightrope-walking. The level design was impeccable, however, rivaled only by the bridge level.

One tip, gravedigger: turn the subititles on so you can understand what's being said to you. I wandered for hours through enemy-infested sidewalks because I missed a crucial piece of information obscured by the guy's accent and the fact he was, like, a mile away.

[Chris Anthony]

Ravenholme was the least fun I had in the game. Good atmosphere, that's about it. The game picked up in a big way after that.

I played through it using only the gravity gun and had a goddamn blast. I highly recommend it.

[gravedigger]

After goofing around with the Gravity Gun in the junkyard, I don't know why you would want to use anything else for the rest of the game. Maybe if you get rocket launchers later and need to take out a big piece of equipment or something, but throwing shit around is too much fun.

[Spike Marshall]

Ravenholm is kinda designed to make you play around with the Gravity Gun until you want to use other weapons again, Ravenholm also marks the game transitioning from being all about atmosphere to being all about kick ass action. Seriously some of the action set pieces post Ravenholm are breathtaking.

[YellowHare]

Question for those of you that have beat Episodes I and II: Simply, how long does each one take to beat? I'm just about done with Half-Life 2 (should be done by tonight) and am thinking about taking a break from TOB (I've just about OD'ed on Portal, TF2 and H-F2), but figured I could muster on if the Episodes aren't too long.

[Spike Marshall]

Episode 1, using only the gravity gun, took me about 2 hours 20 minutes.

Episode 2, took around five hours. Largely because I took my time wandering around in Episode 2, whilst I just wanted Episode 1 to end as soon as possible.

[YellowHare]

Cool, thanks.

[YellowHare]

For those of you who are my fellow achievement-whores, I'm curious as to what your TOB count is thus far? The 99 is brutal, man. But I only missed one on my first run-through on Half-Life 2 (the Lambda one; I hate collectible-based achieves, but still managed to find half purely by discovery) and am lacking the 3 medal-based ones via Portal. I'm just now beginning Episode I so, as I sit, I'm at 66/99 for 580/1000.

[Justin Clark]

710. The Advanced map Portal Achievements continue to elude me.

[gravedigger]

I'm on the third advanced Portal map and the stupid jump you have to do right at the beginning seems impossible. I know what I have to do but, good lord, how can you keep falling through the portals AND fire off a shot to the panel in the corner to shoot through the force field? If I don't miss the corner panel, I'm getting stopped on my fall and losing all of my momentum.

[Spike Marshall]

I got the Advanced Maps Achievement thing on Portal, the 3rd and 6th levels are bastards, but the Aperture Scientist will continually haunt me. I think I'm missing Rocket Man, Neighbourhood Watch, Lambda, Grub and Zombicue from the main games.

TD2 is maxed out though.

[Nate K]

I'm currently at 835, only 9 achievements left. I somehow missed three really easy ones for HL2 and I've got no idea why.

Sod doing all the Portal challenges though, the advanced maps were bad enough.

[A-Pathetic]

I hadn't played TF2 in about a month, logged on last night to check out the new maps. The only new (non-custom) maps I found were Badlands and Well CTF. Well CTF is pretty bad, to be honest. There's not a lot to recommend with it. Too many open areas, too many routes to take because the map was designed as a tug-of-war that they just thought might work as a CTF also. I wasn't impressed.

I'm horrible at Badlands, but it's a great map. Another tug-of-war map this time with a great elevated central point that turns into an amazing bloodbath at the start of just about every game. The point after the central point in either direction is also elevated, and forces you to either expose yourself by running around a spiral or complete an amazing rocket/grenade jump onto a fairly small target at the top. To take that point usually takes some great coordination and a little bit of luck.

[Spike Marshall]

Badlands is apparently a Mountain, is that right?

[A-Pathetic]

Badlands is apparently a Mountain, is that right?

Kind of. The elevated middle portion is a railroad bridge which goes over a small canyon and has a building on either side. When you leave the middle, you do go down at an angle but it's not very dramatic. The 2nd point on each side is a rock with the point on the top, and a little path carved into the rock spiralling around to the top. The final point on each side is in the middle of the actual base which is of course flat.

So the middle point is elevated with a chance to fall off/get blown off into the canyon, then you charge down a hill more or less to get to the next point. That's the rough part, you're exposed for a while if you take the main route to the second point and even if you take one of a few alternate routes you really have to expose yourself to get to the point itself. The defenders of point 2 have plenty of cover that they can utilize and it's nigh impossible to knock off sticky grenades that the defenders have up on that point without getting so close they'd kill you anyhow.

[Spike Marshall]

I am like a puppy, whimpering and pawing at the screen.

I WANTZ BADLANDS

[matches]

It sounds so awesome... and I can't have it.

[Spike Marshall]

http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2008/02/tf2_badlands_released.jpg

Holy Shit

[dontEATnachos]

At the very end of this video on Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/359484/portal-creator-announces-portal-2), the lead designer for Portal slips up and thinks that they've already announced Portal 2. Hint: you just did!

I actually am not sure how I feel about needing a 'sequel' to Portal. Hopefully it'll be funny and interesting but I have a hard time believing it'll catch everyone off guard by being unexpectedly funny and interesting.

[Justin Clark]

Depending on what Aperture Science's role in Episode 3 turns out to be, I can see Portal 2 pretty logically progressing from the first game.

But really, they could just release 4 or 5 new maps for the first game, and I'd be perfectly happy.

[Overlord]

The Portal credits song is being released on Rock Band.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/21/gdc08-still-alive-coming-to-rock-band/

[gravedigger]

Is Ravenholm a sawmill or what? It seems dangerous(ly awesome) to have all these giant saw blades and exploding barrels laying around.

I hadn't noticed it before, because I ran through the first few chapters relatively unscathed, but it's neat how your suit talks to you regarding the damage you've taken and how it's fixing you.

[thecallahan]

I don't know how you can get away with just using the gravity gun, wrench or grenades on some portions of Ravenholm (to get the achievement). It just seems to me almost impossible. Like when you have to fight off like 5 or 6 of those zombie runner things after jumping into the water tank.

[Justin Clark]

Basically, once Grigori throws you the shotgun, start running, and don't look back. IIRC, your destination is the room with the elevator, and there's explosive in there to deal with the runners.

In general, if you're out of stuff to throw, run like hell until you find some. And when you do, always remember to take something with you, preferably a sawblade.

[Sado]

Try to avoid the venom headcrabs and their carriers in Ravenholm as well. They're a bitch to deal with, and I tend to just run past them if I can.

[YellowHare]

Try to avoid the venom headcrabs and their carriers in Ravenholm as well. They're a bitch to deal with, and I tend to just run past them if I can.

True, although 3 consecutive shots smokes 'em. I actually didn't find the achievement all that hard to get, really; I thought it was going to be a lot more frustrating than it turned out to be.

[Justin Clark]

Actually, I tend to consider the carriers priority one whenever they show up. Having just one of those damn venomcrabs running around is enough to drive me up a fucking wall. Last few times I tried letting sleeping dogs lie with that thing, the area I was in was downright infested with venomcrabs in about a minutes.

The good news is they're usually my excuse to unload the most powerful gun I've got with reckless abandon. If you're trying to get the Ravenholm achievement, though, the explosive barrels are the way to go.

Also, if you haven't figured it out, you can just use the primary fire function on the Gravity Gun to shock the living shit out of headcrabs when you're not carrying an item.

[Sleeplesslumber]

Personally I found the easiest way to deal with headcrabs is the trusty old crowbar. I just wait till they jump and swing away.

[gravedigger]

Basically, once Grigori throws you the shotgun, start running, and don't look back.

Holy shit, you ain't kidding. I got stuck in that room waiting for the elevator and a buttload of those Dog Alien-looking assholes kicked my ass. I kept getting stuck between two big groups in the doorway as I tried to close the door.

[Overlord]

Using guns in Ravenholm is for chumps. Gravity gun all the way.

[Spike Marshall]

After getting our asses kicked to a 4-4 draw on Gravel Pit, me and Nate mounted a final assault on our second defence. With me as a soldier and him as a medic we managed to get 30 kills in one life against a really fucking good team, and as soon as we died the other four members of our team did nothing to stop them taking the point.

[matches]

It's because you guys didn't have me there. I'm the glue that holds our dysfunctional team together.

[Scumbag]

I would be willing to personally hug Gabe Newell if he would make it so that picking up an object with the gravity gun didn't blind you. It's the most annoying thing about the series in general.

EDIT: I dunno, I'm actually a little dissapointed in the concept of Portal 2. Maybe it's just me, but I feel most comfortable with Portal being, plot wise, just a glimpse into what another science group was doing in the Half-Life universe at some unknown time*. Trying to connect it in multiple ways to Half-Life's world kinda ruins that for me. It's the same reason why I'm dreading the inevitable moment in Episode 3 when Gordon gets the Portal Gun.

* I actually defined a term for this in writing - the Pop In Story. It's hard to define clearly, however. Roughly, I'd say that a Pop In Story is any short story in which you're thrown into a unique universe (learning only the barest of relevent information), and then ending before you get a full, complete picture of where you are. A great example of this is Arthur C Clarke's Rescue Party (with link to full short story to boot) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_Party_(short_story)), and quite a few Outer Limits / Twilight Zone episodes.

[Spike Marshall]

It's because you guys didn't have me there. I'm the glue that holds our dysfunctional team together.

The Kicker was that me and Nate had held t'other team at 3-0 for a long time, but then Nate disappeared so I had to switch teams to not go crazy and then I went and got THAT team up to 3-3 before switching back when Nate came back from AFC.

[YellowHare]

I'm almost done with TOB (finally!). I'm 4 hours into Episode II and am on track to only missing 4 total achievements in the entire game (the 45 Lambda one from Half-Life and the 3 medal-based ones from Portal). It's kinda laugh-inducing sometimes when taking the gnome with you on the journey, but it sucks ass when having to drive with it.

Btw, sorry that I haven't taken you up on any invites, Spike. I'm not ignoring you but just trying to get the rest of the game out of the way before I let myself relax, as I've been going non-stop since Half-Life.

[gravedigger]

The very last section of Ravenholm is awesome. I love those windmills of death.

[Spike Marshall]

Did everyone find the one which detaches, which you can pick up with the Gravity Gun. That son of a bitch could bounce off walls and combo kill zombies like nobodies business.

[YellowHare]

Well I officially just got done stomping a mudhole in Episode 2 and am pretty proud of my achievements:

96/99 achievements for a score of 930/1000.

I think I owe it to the game to get those other three, honestly. I've put in far too much time to stop so close to maxing out. I think I'll take a break, maybe go for those other 3 Portal ones or just play some other game for a week before coming back.

Back to Episode 2, though: what an ending! Do we have any idea when Episode 3 is supposed to debut, PC or otherwise?

[Justin Clark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xuHumXoeV0

I hate the guys who made it, but funny's funny no matter what.

[jack_rabbit]

I just finished Episode 2.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.


Roll on Episode 3.

[Mattimus]

So, after flying under my radar for months, I finally picked up the Orange Box. Portal was an absolute blast. In fact, there is nothing I can say about it that hasn't already been mentioned. I am printing out my very own paper Weighted Companion Cube as we speak.

I am playing through Half-Life 2 right now, and just made it through Highway 17 and Sandtraps. I found the buggy to be easier to control than the boat, but it still got to be a pain in the ass during some tight areas (fuck that tunnel full of abandoned vehicles.

Alas, I do not have a Live! account (yet) so the only fun I've had with Team Fortress 2 is reading about all of your hilarious experiences with awful Engineers.

[YellowHare]

I just finished Episode 2.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.


Roll on Episode 3.

Weird to think that we're actually 1 episode away from beating H-L3.

[jack_rabbit]

Weird to think that we're actually 1 episode away from beating H-L3.

1 episode away from not getting any answers. Well, not getting as many as I'd like. That's fine. I know Valve will continue the HL saga in some form. Maybe not immediately, but the opportunity will be too great to pass up.

At least I can go back now and kill time catching some of those more ridiculous achievements. Yes, I'm looking at you Mr. Space Gnome.

[YellowHare]

The gnome's not nearly as difficult as you would think it is. It's a minor annoyance, at best. Except for the two car-centric parts. Then you just hate the little shit.

[Spike Marshall]

Valve decided to solve the Lag problem by putting a restriction on how many people you can have in a match. So I can now host only host 4 vs. 4.

RIP TF2

[gravedigger]

Is that what was going on? I was wondering why I couldn't join your team. I thought it was maybe some team size-limit setting you picked. Or you hate me because I'm soooo terrible at this game.

[dontEATnachos]

According to this post (http://play.tm/wire/click/1776391), it's based on bandwidth tests and if you're bandwidth isn't good enough they don't let you host large matches.

The full list is:

A Valve representative has updated us on what to expect in the coming Orange Box patch for the Xbox 360. The following was posted in the official Xbox.com forums:

Fixed a medic invuln exploit.
Fixed grenades going through players or buildings.
Fixed exploit with rockets causing damage through thin walls.
Fixed exploit allowing snipers to fire faster than intended.
Fixed exploit allowing players to teleport with the intelligence.
Fixed exploit attaching sappers to buildings through walls.
Fixed spy backstab exploit.
Fixed spy being able to attack without dropping his disguise.
Medics no longer heal enemy spies when they're not disguised.
Tweaked autobalance calculations.
When an engineer dies in sudden death, his buildings explode.
Fixed stats sometimes not reporting correctly.
Added a dialog to indicate when the host shuts down the server.
Added rumble to TF weapons.
Fixed ping column sometimes getting hidden in some resolutions.
Added 10 and 14 player game sizes.
Prevent hosts selecting game sizes above their bandwidth limits.
Improved handling of large network packets to eliminate bandwidth spikes.
Reduced respawn times for smaller games.

[Spike Marshall]

The thing is that me, Nate and Eric all tried. Me and Nate could managed 8 people games, Eric could do a 12 person game if he turned everything off. But surely limiting the options of the player isn't a fix as such, it's like going to see a doctor with a broken finger and having your hand sawn off.

[dontEATnachos]

Obviously reducing the bandwidth required for the multiplayer would be the best way to handle this. But ensuring that people aren't trying to host 16 player matches on their 128kbps DSL is probably also a useful step. It would be nice if the patch let you mark your game as 'possibly laggy' and still setup the size you want.

I think at this point, re-engineering around the 360's forced peer to peer multiplayer system simply isn't feasible.

[Justin Clark]

* Fixed exploit allowing players to teleport with the intelligence.
* When an engineer dies in sudden death, his buildings explode.


Valve, why do you hate me?

[gravedigger]

Reduced respawn times for smaller games.

Hmm, that seems like bullshit. I had an average 15-second respawn time last night and it was the smallest game I think I've played in.

[Spike Marshall]

The Dustbowl game me and Eric played against Justin and Nate seemed to be respawning us quicker than usual.

[dontEATnachos]

I still haven't played TF2 at all and would like to give it a go here before everyone bails on it. Are you guys going to be online tonight? If so, what time?

[Spike Marshall]

I'll probably be playing in about six hours time.

[jack_rabbit]

God damn you all. I'm still stuck on silver so can't play anything online. I was reduced to playing TF2 against, um, no-one, as a result. At least I discovered that I can catch some achievements without having to be online! ....... /shame.


DAMN YOU ALL INTO LIVE HELL.

[dontEATnachos]

It is only $8 to try it for a month or $15 for a card for 3 months. It's not like it's a huge cost to try it out for a bit.

[Justin Clark]

I got tickets to see Henry Rollins tonight. Hopefully, you guys are still on when it's all said and done. Yesterday reminded me how fun this game can be....and how it is not wise to anger Eric and Spike.

[jack_rabbit]

It is only $8 to try it for a month or $15 for a card for 3 months. It's not like it's a huge cost to try it out for a bit.

It's not that it's expensive, it's that Microsoft have very nicely killed my account and are ever-so-slowly fixing the problem. I'm all paid up, and don't commit much online wankery, so I don't understand the problem. Neither do they, apparently.

[gravedigger]

I got tickets to see Henry Rollins tonight.

Spoken word or music? Either way, I am jealous.

[Justin Clark]

Spoken word. And considering Hank's one of my personal heroes, yeah, this is pretty much the best late birthday gift I could've ever gotten.

[YellowHare]

Valve Wants Team Fortress 2 Maps Free On Consoles

Let's state the obvious: Valve gave us a heck of a deal with The Orange Box. And if a developer were ever justified in charging console consumers for DLC, it would be Valve through a Team Fortress 2 map pack. But here's the thing, Valve has no interest in charging us for more maps. Valve's VP of marketing Doug Lombardi explains that they'd like to offer content...

...for free, definitely, as much as we can. You know, we don't have full say over that, but we have some say over how that works.

He continues:

For us, we see it as an investment on our next product. Gamers won't hesitate when they see a game coming out from Valve. They'll think 'I've heard of this but will it be worth my money?' We want to take that off the table.

So now the ball is in the courts of Microsoft and Sony. Given that Epic is struggling to keep mods free on the 360, we're assuming that Valve is in the midst of the same situation. As for PSN, that platform seems to offer more leeway (but that's our own logic, not something coming from Valve).
One thing's for sure—if PSN users are downloading the same content for free that Xbox LIVE demands money for (on top of subscription costs), Microsoft will reaffirm the evil corporation stereotype that the Xbox brand has done so much to negate. Let's hope that Microsoft is smarter than that and shows its customers a bit more gratitude for their loyalty.

Source: http://kotaku.com/363586/valve-wants-team-fortress-2-maps-free-on-consoles

[dontEATnachos]

Sony doesn't make anyone charge for content that they'd like to release. If they just put the new maps in a patch for the game on the PS3, it wouldn't even matter. I think the issue here would be more with EA or Microsoft than Sony. But even MS has a history of letting the content be free on Live if it's free on the PS3.

[gravedigger]

It SHOULD happen but it won't. Epic wanted their Gears maps to be free also but MS made them do that "pay during first six months, then they're free" nonsense.

eta: Why is it that when it comes to DLC like maps and such I think it should be free but I can't wait to give Harmonix more money every week for Rock Band songs?

[dontEATnachos]

So Spike invited me to his match and every time I tried to accept, it said that game wasn't joinable. I sat around for like 10 minutes trying to join that stupid match. Is that how it usually goes? If I'm going to have to waste that amount of time trying to get into a match, screw that.

[matches]

I have no idea why it would have done that. Once in a while someone will leave the room, but for whatever reason the game doesn't register and won't let someone else in.

But, that's probably only happened to me once.

[Spike Marshall]

My NAT settings were fucked, so sorry about that. Had to spend 30 minutes reconfiguring everything.

[wydren]

So Spike invited me to his match and every time I tried to accept, it said that game wasn't joinable. I sat around for like 10 minutes trying to join that stupid match. Is that how it usually goes? If I'm going to have to waste that amount of time trying to get into a match, screw that.

I've had this happen to me a number of times. I was just hoping no one was thinking I was turning them down.

[gravedigger]

So how long is Half Life 2? I just started the part in Sandtraps where you have to jump from rock to rock or the Starship Troopers aliens will eat you. I think the in-game clock has me at a little over six hours. Surely I'm not already half way through? I heard this game had a pretty epic length for a FPS.

[Chris Anthony]

You're a little past the half way point I think.

[Nexus-7]

You probably are about at about 50%. The length isn't so much epic as the game as a whole is. There's plenty of cool shit coming up.

I hope you're not playing on easy, I feel that sucks a good bit of the joy out of HL2. No idea how long it took me to play through the first time though.

[Justin Clark]

Say hi to Bitey, Stabby, and Rapey for me, gravedigger. I miss 'em.

[gravedigger]

Not playing on easy. I'm pretty sure I have it set to normal but I may have bumped it up. It is very satisfying to sic a pack of antlions on a squad of Combine and watch the carnage happen. I wasn't feeling this game for a while but it does get progressively better.

So how far do you have to go to get the "don't touch the sand in Sandtraps" achievement? I made it to the part where you have to kill the thing with the pheremones but, holy shit, how do you kill that guy and the antlions while staying off the sand?

[A-Pathetic]

Valve, why do you hate me?

I honestly had no idea those things still existed in the XBox version. I was under the impression that PC and XBox were both patched pretty frequently and those items have been patched out on PC for months. Does XBox just get few patches, but they're larger when they come out?

[gravedigger]

Any kind of patch or update for an Xbox game needs to be QA'ed and certified by Microsoft before it can be applied so updates are generally few and far between.

[mongycore]

So how far do you have to go to get the "don't touch the sand in Sandtraps" achievement? I made it to the part where you have to kill the thing with the pheremones but, holy shit, how do you kill that guy and the antlions while staying off the sand?

If you already got the antlions doing your job...you kinda passed the achievement Obie.

It starts from when you meet the guy who tells you to stay off the sand to the point where you have to fight the queen.

[gravedigger]

Does the notification not happen until you finish the chapter, then? Because I got no pop up. I realize this is a totally lame thing to wonder/worry about but I was meticulous in saving every few steps. I even left the sonic machine off in the last section so I'd know for sure whether I hit the sand or not.

[mongycore]

I'm trying to remember when it unlocked for me too. I know I had to redo the section for the points...

This guy had the same question (http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?t=41619) and it looks like it should've unlocked before the battle with the queen.

[Graham]

It starts from when you meet the guy who tells you to stay off the sand to the point where you have to fight the queen.

That's not a QUEEN, 'tis merely a guard...the queens and kings might be seen




...elsewhere.

[YellowHare]

The achievement unlocks when you get past all area with all the rundown buildings and sonic machine off to you left. You should get it once you get up on the cliff and all of those things are behind you, while down below is another sand area where the big guy comes out and there's not enough objects to stay on to keep off the sand (and then are shortly thereafter rescued).

**Note: Although obvious, I'll state it anyways: The only way to be 100% certain that you NEVER touch the sand is that during the whole run the antillons should never once come up out of the ground and attack you; you should never see them at all until you get to the next area.

[gravedigger]

That could be the problem. The only time I saw the antlions was at the very beginning. They popped up and attacked the guy who told me not to step on the sand. I assumed that was a scripted event to act as an exclamation point on his warning.

Every time the antlions popped up after that I just reloaded a save. Is there anywhere you could stand on the sand and NOT call them up?

[Trejo]

Got a replacement xbox console, so I'm back in the thick of things! Looking foward to unloading shotgun rounds into all your faces to check if you are spies coming to hurt my precious sentry guns.

[YellowHare]

That could be the problem. The only time I saw the antlions was at the very beginning. They popped up and attacked the guy who told me not to step on the sand. I assumed that was a scripted event to act as an exclamation point on his warning.

Every time the antlions popped up after that I just reloaded a save. Is there anywhere you could stand on the sand and NOT call them up?

I'm 99.9% sure that the first antillon attack against the 2 guys is scripted, so that shouldn't count. A good way to check is reload that chapter, ignore the guys and keep running a good distance, then look back and see if they get wasted; just stay on the rocks the whole time. But, no, there are no safe areas to stand on sand; you have to be standing on some sort of object. You probably just goofed on a save somehow. That chapter actually isn't very long if you do a lot of running, which I learned too late to go get some Lambda devices; there's a lot of areas you can do a run-and-jump strategy and not have to take it so slow, so I would suggest going back and do that as much as you can while still using objects to cross when pertinent.

[YellowHare]

Via Kotaku:

Team Fortress DLC Price Is Up To Microsoft And Sony

Recently, Valve went on record saying that they'd like their upcoming Team Fortress 2 map pack to be free on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but admitted that such a situation might not be possible. Many wondered if this uncertain future was the result of EA meddling or interference from the platform holders themselves.

We contacted Valve to clarify and their VP of marketing Doug Lombardi informed us that, "The platform holder owns the final call." So just as we'd suspected, whether or not we see these maps for free is indeed up to Sony and Microsoft.

Source: http://kotaku.com/368047/team-fortress-dlc-price-is-up-to-microsoft-and-sony

[Justin Clark]

Criterion managed to slip new Burnout maps past MS for free today. There's no reason it can't be the same in this case.

[LawrencePilgrim]

Midi and Spike, thanks for the game. Always fun.

In a mini-rant, why is it that people who are engineers can never place the exits to the teleporters correctly? I'm tired of exiting a teleporter and facing a wall, and having to turn around.

Oh well, the game is still fun as hell.

[Justin Clark]

You don't always have a whole lot of time to position a teleporter correctly, especially when it's a little harder to tell on the fly which way it's really facing. I'm usually more concerned over whether the engineer put the exit someplace where it isn't likely to get blown to shit by the first enemy passerby who comes strolling along.

[Spike Marshall]

I'm more concerned with the large number of engineers who seem determined to fuck with their team with teleporters, I'm getting sick of standing on a teleporter and getting zapped behind that mesh on Dustbowl.

It was a fun game last night though Yop, we ended up completely destroying them.

[YellowHare]

According to a report from Shacknews, the PC version of Team Fortress 2 will see a major update in April, including the previously discussed new gameplay type, Payload, will arrive with the new map "Goldrush." In addition, the Medic may be getting his new weapon, the first of the new unlockable items.

In even better news that fans of achievements in awesomeness will appreciate, the "Meet The Scout" cinematic is confirmed for an April release, joining the Engineer, Heavy, Demo Man and Soldier. Shacknews says it will arrive on or about the April 20 game update, but we've heard previously that it will arrive some time next week. Given Valve's well known tardiness, we would put our money on it debuting later. But we're keeping hope alive.

Source: http://kotaku.com/372662/team-fortress-2-getting-major-updates-mid+april

[Justin Clark]

I'm not reading another thing about this game unless it's about updates for the 360 version. Anything else just makes me incredibly sad.

[YellowHare]

It's bittersweet to post news like this. We're so

http://www.nsync-fans.com/images/nsync_usa_cover.jpg

[A-Pathetic]

And I'm getting the updates and playing less and less. Bah.

[YellowHare]

Via Kotaku:

Medic! Hands On With The New TF2 Map Plus New Medic Achievements And Weapons Revealed

Valve had a nice little gathering of souls last night at Blondie's Bar and No Grill here in SF to show of the new Team Fortress 2 map, Goldrush. If you are reading this, you are probably a big Team Fortress 2 fan, so I'll skip explanations of the game and dive right into the details.

First of all, I loved the look of it. The name certainly describes what the map was like, looking like something out of Disney's Big Thunder Mountain railroad ride. Lots of wooden structures, water towers and mine car tracks. But the map isn't just a new area, it also features a new gameplay type called Payload. Basically how it works is this: the map has three separate areas and players are split into offensive and defensive teams. The goal of the offensive team is to push a mine cart loaded with explosives through the map, capturing the defensive team's bases as they go. The cart moves faster depending on how many people are surrounding it and leaving it unattended will cause it to start rolling back towards the beginning again. The other team of course, tries to stop the payload from reaching it's goal.

The map wasn't the only thing going however. We were also privy to the new item system that will be instituted with the next update. This also ties in with the thirty six new achievements for the Medic class. By gathering some or all of the new achievements, you can gain three new unique items. One third of the achievements will net you The Blutauger, a new syringe gun. This weapon does not give critical damage, but instead sucks health from the enemy on impact. Earn two thirds of the achievements and you will get The Critzcrieg, a new medigun that will rapid fire critical rockets. Getting all the achievements will see you receiving The Ubersaw which takes melee combat damage and converts it into Ubercharge. Four direct hits with it will charge up whatever Medigun your Medic has currently equipped.

Team Fortress fans are going to have a field day with this new map and if you want to get all those new weapons (and I know you do) take a gander at all 36 achievements after the jump!


First Do No Harm: Play a full round without killing any enemies and score the highest on a team of six or more players

Quadruple Bypass: Heal a teammate who is taking fire form four enemies at once

Group Health: Work with two other medics to deploy three simultaneous Ubercharges

Surgical Prep: Have an Ubercharge ready before the set up phase ends

Trauma Queen: Deploy three Ubercharges in less than five minutes and assist in five kills during that time

Double Blind Trial: deploy an Ubercharge within eight seconds of a nearby enemy medic deploying his

Play Doctor: In a team with no Medics, be first to switch to Medic after a teammate calls medic and heal 500 health

Triage: Deploy an Ubercharge on a teammate less than a second before they are hit by a critical explosive

Preventative Medicine: Block the enemy from capturing a control point with an Ubercharged teammate

Consultation: Assist a fellow Medic in killing five enemies in a single life

Does It Hurt When I Do This?: Kill fifty Scouts with your syringe gun

Peer Review: Kill fifty Medics with your bone saw

Big Pharma: Assist a heavy in killing thirty enemies where neither of you die

You'll Feel a Little Prick: Assist in killing four enemies with a single Ubercharge on a Scout

Autoclave: Assist in burning eight enemies with a single Ubercharge on a Pyro

Blast Assist: Assist in exploding five enemies with a single Ubercharge on a Soldier

Blunt Trauma: Assist in punching out for enemies with a single Ubercharge on a Heavy

Medical Breakthrough: Assist in destroying eight enemy Engineer buildings with a single Ubercharge on a Demoman

Midwife Crisis: Heal an Engineer as he repairs his sentry gun while it's under enemy fire

Ubi Concordia, Ibi Victoria: Assist in killing five enemies on an enemy control point in a single life

Grand Rounds: Heal two hundred teammates after they have called for Medic

Infernal Medicine: Extinguish one hundred burning teammates

Doctor Assisted Homicide: Assist in killing twenty nemeses

Placebo Effect: Kill five enemies in a single life, while having your Ubercharge ready but undeployed

Sawbones: Hit enemies with your bone saw ten times in a row without dieing or missing

Intern: Accumulate seven thousand heal points in a single life

Specialist: Accumulate ten thousand heal points in a single life

Chief of Staff: Accumulate ten million total health points

Hypocritical Oath: Kill an enemy spy that you have been healing

Medical Intervention: Save a falling teammate from dying on impact

Second Opinion: Ubercharge two teammates at once

Autopsy Report: Provide an enemy with a freeze cam shot of you taunting above their ragdoll

FYI I am a Medic: use a bone saw to kill five enemy spies who have been calling for Medic

Family Practice: Ubercharge ten of your steam community friends

House Call: Join a game that one of your friends is in and then deploy an Ubercharge on him

Bedside Manner: be healing a teammate as he achieves an achievement of his own

[Justin Clark]

I'm sorry, were there details in that post? Cause all I saw was Valve/Microsoft giving us console owners their perpetual middle finger.

[Justin Clark]

Meet The Scout (http://www.destructoid.com/team-fortress-2-time-to-meet-the-scout-bonk--82295.phtml)

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

[Spike Marshall]

Man, the games me Nate and Trejo had last night were awesome.

[Alex Riviello]

Who's game?

[Peter Venkman]

playing right now! but on PC...and good lord look at this medic achievements! how the hell is someone going to complete them!

[Spike Marshall]

Who's game?

On XBox Live it would be, Midi Pulse and Calgary Ronin.

We were playing most of last night but the place was deserted.

[matches]

Meet The Scout (http://www.destructoid.com/team-fortress-2-time-to-meet-the-scout-bonk--82295.phtml)

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

That was hilarious.

[gravedigger]

I'm itching to play some TF2 again for some reason. It's not much fun, though, unless I can watch Spike and Nate absolutely crushing the opposition.

[matches]

They're the brute force, I'm the brains of the operation. And don't you forget it... Or else.

*Bonk!*

[Trejo]

Man, the games me Nate and Trejo had last night were awesome.

On XBox Live it would be, Midi Pulse and CalgaryRonin.

Yeah, that night was a blast. Thanks again for taking some time out to bang out the rest of those achievements I needed; I was starting to get really, really pissed off with that whole sentry gun situation. Now I can go back to the simpler days, when killing someone and defending the intelligence was reward enough ;)

Word to the wise, thread: Don't get into a melee battle with Spike if he's weilding the pryo's axe. This will result in certain and repeated death.

[matches]

My mad skillz have definitely gotten rusty, but unless there's downloadable content I really don't see myself revisiting this after April 29th.

[Spike Marshall]

We should totally have a game tonight though as a last hurrah. We can even let Eric host so we don't have to deal with 4 vs. 4 matches.

[Justin Clark]

I think I'd be up for this. Game-wise, everything I currently own becomes secondary after the 29th. And I haven't played with you guys in ages.

[YellowHare]

I ended up trading my copy of TOB in, and quite regrettably since it was such a great deal for a set of games (and I got it new for only $30). But outside of 3 achieves, I beat the snot out of it and needed the credit. The good thing, though, is that if they do end up releasing new achieves/maps/features for TOB, I can just buy it, alone, when they end up releasing them all here in a bit.

[Peter Venkman]

For us PC people with TF2, we got the update today with Goldrush and the medic achievements...

I have yet to play Goldrush, all good ping servers are full
Medic Achievements...there are so many of them you tend to catch a few on accident like I did..but given how many there are I don't see how you can even collect them all , but then i don't play the game hours upon hours per day

[A-Pathetic]

Goldrush is good. It might be very good, I just haven't played it enough yet to say. I can say the 3 or so games I played were all very fun, and all very different. Forcing the majority of the offensive team to need to be at a certain obvious point makes things pretty easy for the defense.

Basically Goldrush has 3 different stages. The first 2 stages contain a single checkpoint and then the final delivery area for the payload, the last stage has 2 checkpoints as well as the true final delivery area (you drop the bomb in the mine cart down a shaft and blow up the enemy base, and yourself if you stick around). Supposedly the more people on offense near the cart the faster it moves, but I found that it never really gets faster than a Heavy with his gun in firing position can move. The cart also works like a dispenser as far as ammo works, so as a Heavy or a Pyro you can fire non-stop without running out of ammo. It doesn't heal you but since 80% of the people playing right now are playing Medic trying to get the new achievements that's not a problem.

By the way, the new Medic achievements are the greatest thing to happen to the Spy class in forever. There's no more thinking about which disguise to use. Disguise yourself as a Medic, run up behind the 8 Medics on the other team, backstab them all, profit! It's seriously a joke how many people are playing Medic right now. I normally play it a decent amount of time, but for now I'll just enjoy the free heals and I'll get my achievements some other time.

[matches]

We should totally have a game tonight though as a last hurrah. We can even let Eric host so we don't have to deal with 4 vs. 4 matches.

I didn't just see this until now, haha. Oh well. If new maps and weapons ever come out I'll definitely hop back on, because I decided to keep the game. It's just too good to sell back.

[A-Pathetic]

Some of the new medic achievements are very imposing. Most are just a matter of time (although in my case, killing 50 scouts with a syringe gun will be a LONG time). It makes the current games very different as well. Last night I was in a 2Fort where medics were taking turns healing a heavy who was doing nothing but punching the enemy. Sadly, it was very efficient and the guy probably got 20 punch kills.

[Peter Venkman]

By the way, the new Medic achievements are the greatest thing to happen to the Spy class in forever. There's no more thinking about which disguise to use. Disguise yourself as a Medic, run up behind the 8 Medics on the other team, backstab them all, profit! It's seriously a joke how many people are playing Medic right now. I normally play it a decent amount of time, but for now I'll just enjoy the free heals and I'll get my achievements some other time.

BINGO! I did this last night and took out a group of 4 medics and the Heavy they where healing..haha..so as of right now if the server is packed full of Medics, I'll be picking Spy to clean some house, since everyone is so used to seeing Medics now it's far tooooo easy

[Justin Clark]

Yes, Virginia, there's still an update coming for the 360. (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52789)

"What we've been waiting for is until we had a critical mass of new content to put out," Lombardi added. "So we feel like we're kind of there now. We'll probably be making some announcements pretty soon on what will happen with the 360 stuff.

....unfortunately I don't know that any of that will make it to the PS3."

Sucks to be you, PS3 owners.

[A-Pathetic]

I've been back to playing this quite a bit. The number of medics has gone down and I've been working on those achievements. I think I'm currently at 20 of 36, so I have the upgraded syringe gun (which is amazing) but I still don't have the uber sidegrade which I don't care about in the slightest. I would really like the upgraded bonesaw, but I have my doubts that I'll achieve that unless I break down and use one of the "achievement" map servers that have popped up everywhere with people helping each other just to get their achievements done.

A few of the achievements I don't have complete I would have thought that I'd have completed by dumb luck at this point (I still haven't completed ubering somebody a second before they take a critical hit, and I haven't completed saving somebody from dying to fall damage). A few of them are simple enough but I have been unable to get matched up with the right person to complete them (an ubered heavy punching 2 people, an ubered soldier exploding 5 people). And some of them will just be painful.

[dontEATnachos]

Sucks to be you, PS3 owners.

I'd say it's more that it sucks that Valve refused to develop the game for PS3 themselves. By shuffling that development off to EA they've really screwed over that version of their software. I don't see why a company would want to have a substandard version of their product out there that they didn't develop.

That said, I own the 360 version for just that reason so it could be cool if they actually get this out there.

[Justin Clark]

I'd say it's more that it sucks that Valve refused to develop the game for PS3 themselves. By shuffling that development off to EA they've really screwed over that version of their software. I don't see why a company would want to have a substandard version of their product out there that they didn't develop.
It's mostly because EA offered them a big ass check for said substandard product. Valve's never had too big an issue making sure their games turn out as good as humanly possible on other platforms, but in this particular instance, they don't have the time or patience to fuck about, jumping through the PS3's technological hoops to do it, especially with that system's (at the time, anyway) teensy install base. The 360 is dirt simple to develop for, hence the in-house, superior port. With the PS3, Valve basically handed them a dev kit, said "Be our guest", and EA basically proved Gabe Newell right, in that the Cell is too much of a bitch to program for to be worth the effort.

[dontEATnachos]

Well, the key with the Cell is that you have to break your threads into smaller pieces than you have to with a PC. If you design your software with more functionally capable threads, it's difficult to translate that into the Cell's threads.

The issue with the Orange Box is that the developers of the PS3 port don't have any sway with the developers of the 360/PC version. So instead of getting a small structure change that is compatible with everything they had to keep working around this multi-threading design that is inherently going to cause problems how the PS3 is designed.

There is a lot of discussion though that the PS3 threading model is actually more beneficial because it'll give you a technique that scales better with the addition of more cores to the CPU.

The point is though, that by intentionally ignoring some changes to the root source that would have greatly improved the PS3 version and walling it off, you're naturally going to have difficulty creating a port. I think it's unfortunate that they did that.

[dreary louse]

(awkward segue)

But who cares about ports of mediocre games? If I could play Half-Life 2 on a calculator I wouldn't bother.

I greatly enjoyed the first Half-Life and its modifications (especially Team Fortress Classic), but its sequel is a major step down - and I've managed to play the game just recently, after its hype has died. There is nothing fantastic about the single-player campaign - every weapon is dull (except the gravity gun), the enemies are morons who are boring to kill, and the entire game is on rails. Also, most of the puzzles seem to have been thrown in to give the physics engine some purpose; note times when a bridge in the game was down, or a path was blocked, and some banal task had to be carried out with cinder blocks and the like.

[Overlord]

(awkward segue)

But who cares about ports of mediocre games? If I could play Half-Life 2 on a calculator I wouldn't bother.

I greatly enjoyed the first Half-Life and its modifications (especially Team Fortress Classic), but its sequel is a major step down - and I've managed to play the game just recently, after its hype has died. There is nothing fantastic about the single-player campaign - every weapon is dull (except the gravity gun), the enemies are morons who are boring to kill, and the entire game is on rails. Also, most of the puzzles seem to have been thrown in to give the physics engine some purpose; note times when a bridge in the game was down, or a path was blocked, and some banal task had to be carried out with cinder blocks and the like.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/Overlord1317/star-wars-shut-yo-mouth.jpg

[Jake]

I greatly enjoyed the first Half-Life and its modifications (especially Team Fortress Classic), but its sequel is a major step down - and I've managed to play the game just recently, after its hype has died. There is nothing fantastic about the single-player campaign - every weapon is dull (except the gravity gun), the enemies are morons who are boring to kill, and the entire game is on rails. Also, most of the puzzles seem to have been thrown in to give the physics engine some purpose; note times when a bridge in the game was down, or a path was blocked, and some banal task had to be carried out with cinder blocks and the like.

http://www.ruinz.net/images/lex-luthor-wrong.jpg

[A. Lively]

I'll take this recent thread bump to mention that the new additions to Team Fortress 2 are a blast; I've always loved the medic and pyro, but now they're perfect. The Pyro's new air-blast in particular adds a whole new dimension of skill and possible tactics.

I feel sorry for the X-Box 360 folks getting left in the dust like this.

[Nate K]

I greatly enjoyed the first Half-Life and its modifications (especially Team Fortress Classic), but its sequel is a major step down - and I've managed to play the game just recently, after its hype has died. There is nothing fantastic about the single-player campaign - every weapon is dull (except the gravity gun), the enemies are morons who are boring to kill, and the entire game is on rails. Also, most of the puzzles seem to have been thrown in to give the physics engine some purpose; note times when a bridge in the game was down, or a path was blocked, and some banal task had to be carried out with cinder blocks and the like.

I don't need to express how wrong you are, Overlord and Jake have done a good enough job of that, but I feel obligated to point out that Half-Life 2 originally came out in 2004 and it's still better than most first person shooters being released today.

[dreary louse]

Well, that's a shame because Half-Life 2 sucks; so I can't imagine how worse the more recent ones are (as my computer isn't strong enough to run them).

The game's storyline is barely coherent; at first I thought it was neat that it lacked cutscenes and anything figured out was from overheard conversations and scripted gameplay events; but it becomes more clear as you play it that Valve just made it up as HL2's development went along, routinely making the player ask more and more questions of unresolved issues and conflicts to keep you playing. Should the sequel try to tie up the Half-Life saga, it will inevitably disappoint.

But no, Half-Life 2 is just cinematic, right? Yeah, that's a good idea for a videogame - taking an interactive medium to influence it with the most oppressive art form there is.

[Jake]

Did you even pay attention to the game while you were playing it, or were you too busy paying attention to smoking cigarettes? There's a narrative there that's richer than at least 1/5th of movies these days.

[Graham]

Forget about it, Jake, it's dreary louse.

[dreary louse]

Actually, I was distracted by getting caught on objects in every level.

But it's time to load it up and move some cinder blocks in place. Fun. And they drop onto the ground so realistically.

[Jake]

I think this is the first time I've ever seen the "Inanimate objects in a video game raped my childhood!" argument.

[Graham]

Meet the Sniper (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/35246.html)

...and apologies for the previous 'Chinatown'-rip.
It was TOO good to resist.

Hey, louse, give us a game you'd rather be playing...The whole 'HL2 sucks' routine doesn't work unless you show us how you think FPS's SHOULD be played.

[Graham]

Actually, I was distracted by getting caught on objects in every level.

But it's time to load it up and move some cinder blocks in place. Fun. And they drop onto the ground so realistically.

So basically, you didn't get farther than the initial levels?
It speaks volumes...

[Vegan Dracula]

As fun as HL2 is, not much gets resolved. I'm waiting till EPS 3 hits and am going to play 1-3 (have avoided them since). But for those who have completed 1-2 does it generally fill in some holes or does everything remain obscure?

[Trevor]

The story moves forward in meaningful ways, but if you're playing Half Life solely for big narrative reveals, then you might be disappointed.

That said, Eps 1-2 have a more engaging story than pretty much any game out there.

[Jakespeare]

Episode 1 doesn't so much have an engaging story as it's scary as all fuck at times. I'd say it's more gameplay over story. Episode 2 is extremely engaging though, I got really into the story for a mere expansion.

I'm worried about it all being crammed into one episode to end it, but Episode 2 gives me hope that they can do it.

[Jake]

Episode 1 doesn't so much have an engaging story as it's scary as all fuck at times.

The final sequence in the parking garage had me both extremely angry and pants-shittingly creeped out, but overall I was disappointed with EP1. EP2 blew all of that out of the water, and I'd almost say it was more fulfilling than HL2...and I love HL2.

[Dan]

How is EP3 going to be incorporated into the Orange Box? Will you be able to download EP3 from the respective stores? (Live/PSN) or will you have to buy it as a seperate entity?

[Nexus-7]

I seem to recall reading that it'll be a download(who knows about pricing).

Wouldn't be surprised if a "greatest hits" version came out later in stores with either a code for a free download, or Ep. 3 included on the disc.

[Dan]

When it happens, I shall probably pick it up. I still have the original HL2 (no expansions/GOTY or whatnot) and tried to install it the other day but for the life of me it wouldn't start up.

So i'll go console when they offer me the whole package and i'll play all the new episodes from start to finish as a new game. I really preferred playing with a mouse and keyboard though. It was so fucking responsive.

[matches]

I'd still be playing TF2 if there were updates in the near future for the 360.

[Jakespeare]

The final sequence in the parking garage had me both extremely angry and pants-shittingly creeped out, but overall I was disappointed with EP1. EP2 blew all of that out of the water, and I'd almost say it was more fulfilling than HL2...and I love HL2.

I was kind of in the same boat on Episode 1. Like I said, it's effectively scary and I really enjoy the Alyx character, but the environments are very bland and boring and the scope is very small compared to Half-Life 2 or even Episode 2. It just feels very minor, like the stuff they had to get out of the way to move on to the main event.

That being said the citadel blowing up and Alyx yelling "Gordon!" as the screen fades to black haunted me for a bit.

I'm kinda hoping we'll at least hear word about Episode 3 soon, however teasing and unspecific it might be.

[A-Pathetic]

I'd still be playing TF2 if there were updates in the near future for the 360.

Yeah, the Pyro update and inclusion of 2 player created maps as "official" maps now was enough to get me back into having a lot of fun with TF2. The fact that they aren't putting these updates on the 360 is horrible. It's really crippling their product.

They also lowered the achievement requirements needed on the Medic to get the weaponry (needing to have all 36 for the ubersaw really pushed a lot of people to find servers designed to cheat the achievement system which sucked). I logged on and went from having only his first weapon to having all 3.

I then proceeded to play for about 8 straight hours until I had the Pyro's first 2 weapons. All of the Pyro's achievements seem more intelligently put together than the Medic's as well. Losing the alt fire airburst from the flamethrower in order to equip the backburner sucked, but the backburner is so much fun and 50 health is almost too much of a bonus.

Hopefully the 360 bundles all of these updates together and hands them out, but it just seems like they aren't moving in that direction at all.

[matches]

Hopefully the 360 bundles all of these updates together and hands them out, but it just seems like they aren't moving in that direction at all.

From what I've heard and read, the main reason for that is Microsoft wants to charge for the downloadable content, and Valve wants it to be for free. So unless Microsoft bends to a reasonable price that Valve thinks is fair for the consumer base, I don't expect the updates to ever come on the console. Idealistically it's commendable on the part of Valve, but it's really hurting the people who love the game who don't own it for PC.

[Justin Clark]

To be honest, we're at the point now where I'd be willing to throw down a few bucks for the updates. Long as the price is reasonable and not the Irreversible rape scene that was Halo 3's Map Pack, I think Valve's earned it.

[Spike Marshall]

To be honest I don't think TF2 on the 360 can be saved anymore. The community was on its deathbed when me and Nate stopped playing a few months back, and I doubt it's got any better.

[Domingo]

TF2 is booming on PC...

[Graham]

TF2 is booming on PC...

QFT

[Justin Clark]

Yeah, but that means playing it on PC.

[Nexus-7]

I'm surprised TF2 hasn't had a loyal but small following like Counter-Strike did on the original Xbox. There were always games going for that, just not many.

[Justin Clark]

Counterstrike had a much longer time where it was the ONLY worthwhile online FPS on the system. The Orange Box/TF2 came out surrounded by Halo 3, Gears of War, and CoD4. It still had a good run, but without the updates the other games got in due time, it's just withering on the vine.

[A-Pathetic]

Yeah, but that means playing it on PC.

I've heard of PC elitists in regards to FPS's, but never console elitists.

Of the new maps introduced as "official" maps, Turbine is a lot of fun. I think I have a soft spot for the CTF maps anyhow. It seems like there are consistently good games in Turbine though. Fastlane, however, sucks. Taking the final point is nigh impossible against any semi decent team. It's just way too easy to turtle next to your spawn and good engineers will make sure that the only doors in are well covered. The attacking team has to spawn far enough away that even with a maximum number of teleporters you have lines waiting. I was on a server last night rotating through the maps, and both Fastlane games ended in stalemates after 30 minutes with one team owning 4 points and the other team turtling.

[Justin Clark]

Not so much elitism as aversion. As in, I hate paying such an obscene amount of money keeping my PC updated just to play the newest games, I hate playing with a mouse and keyboard, I hate playing with such a high percentage of griefers, and I hate wading through hundreds of servers only to end up booted out of good ones, or stuck on the same team as IRapeNiggersForBreakfast95

[Jake]

stuck on the same team as IRapeNiggersForBreakfast95

I'll have you know that my fellow WoW fanatics think I'm a fantastic raider, you discriminating jerkface.

[Spike Marshall]

Yeah PCs may have more functionality than consoles but by and large if you solely use a PC to play games you're a cunt. This was proven to me by the time I spent in TFC, the only time I ever game on my PC is single player RTSs and the like.

[Timo]

Yeah, well I'm pretty sure all platform fanboys are cunts.

[Domingo]

Final word. Everyone's a cunt.

[A-Pathetic]

See, I've had no shortage of asshats that I've me while playing PC or while playing my Xbox. In both situations, I find a community of people I'm comfortable with and for the most part I stay there. Complaining about the asshats is pointless. That's what they live for.

Oh, and not liking mouse/keyboard for FPSs makes you stupid. You jerkface.

[Nexus-7]

Counterstrike had a much longer time where it was the ONLY worthwhile online FPS on the system. The Orange Box/TF2 came out surrounded by Halo 3, Gears of War, and CoD4. It still had a good run, but without the updates the other games got in due time, it's just withering on the vine.I could still find Counter-Strike games after the 360 had come out though, so Call of Duty 2/Halo 2/Name an online FPS- were already out at that point.

I was just thinking, and it may be misguided, that TF2 would have the same hardcore cult following that Counter-Strike had(and still has on PC, possibly even Xbox). Basically, I'm surprised.

[Matt Turner]

Just finished Episode 1 the other day. I was kind of disappointed with how it ended. Not the Citadel explosion. That was awesome...but the events leading up to that. Killing one strider? I freaking battled handfuls of those in Half Life 2 during one sequence. Anyway, I'm looking forward to Ep 2, especially with all the hype it has gotten in this thread.

[Trevor]

Yeah, Ep 2 kills Ep 1. You won't be disappointed. Especially about the Striders.

[Domingo]

StriderS and HunterS. As in plural a plenty.

[Spike Marshall]

http://www.destructoid.com/team-fortress-2-meet-the-sandvich-100339.phtml

Holy Shit, that official 'Meet The Sandvich' video is one of the greatest things ever.

[ZombieFever]

Team Fortress is a game i love, but dont play. Not because i dont want to though. No way can i afford a PC to run it and im not going to play it on XBox without any of the downloads.

[A-Pathetic]

Played a bunch tonight. The Sandvich is the first heavy unlock, and it's actually a nicely thought out replacement for the shotgun which I never seemed to use enough anyhow. I'd personally rather have the portable health kit and deal with the extra damage I take running without a weapon I can fire while running.

I also unlocked the new minigun but honestly haven't bothered with it. Besides guarding your intel, I just don't see the point of it. The damage loss is too much.

I haven't unlocked the boxing gloves yet, and I haven't even played the new maps yet. Too busy playing on servers I'm used to trying to unlock the heavy stuff.

[Matt Turner]

I just recently completed Half Life 2: Episode 2 and I must say, it was everything you guys said it would be and more. The fight at the end against the striders using the Magneson Devices was frustrating for a while, but fun. It probably would have helped if I was a better driver of that damned car. I could have used it to run over the Hunters instead of getting shredded by them until I finally took them down and focused on the Striders.

And that ending was heart wrenching...and cool. When Alex's dad screams out "Don't look!" it got to me a bit. That was some good voice work there.

Valve needs to release Episode 3 and include a portion of it where you get to play as D.O.G. Perhaps controlling him remotely or something. I love that guy.

[Chris Miller]

I am SOOOO late to the party, but I just beat Portal last night. Man, that game is the best thing since sliced bread. I think the greatest part about it for me would be getting unstuck from a scenario. I would go from feeling like a complete moron to feeling like the smartest man alive when i figured it out. The jumping puzzles in test chamber 18 were awesome too.

[dontEATnachos]

Well, it looks like the TF2 updates ARE going to come to 360 eventually (http://kotaku.com/5040417/team-fortress-2-updates-coming-to-xbox-360-later-this-year) (sometime this year).

Owners of the Xbox 360 version of Team Fortress 2 will be scarfing down sandviches and delivering payloads later this year, as Valve is finally bringing all the updates delivered via Steam to the Xbox Live Marketplace. That means new, class-specific Achievements, new unlockable weapons for the Pyro, Medic and Heavy, new gameplay modes and new maps, all on your Xbox 360.

Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi got that piece of business out of the way just before our latest Left 4 Dead demo, saying that the developer wanted to build up a massive update for Xbox 360 users before delivering. Given that Valve is being forced to charge for the update, they wanted to ensure that 360 owners were getting their money's worth.

So, how much? The price isn't final, but Valve is hoping to go as low as possible, aiming for a ten dollar price tag. Not too shabby. Sorry, PS3 owners, no word on when or if Valve will be giving you the same Team Fortress 2 updates.

[Dan]

"Being forced to charge for the update"

There was a time where this would confuse me. It annoys me that it doesn't anymore.

[Nate K]

Good news, it's just a shame that everybody stopped playing TF2 a while ago.

That said, how many people would be up for some all chewer matches when it's eventually released?

[stelios]

Good news, it's just a shame that everybody stopped playing TF2 a while ago.

Not on the PC, they didn't.

[dontEATnachos]

Not on the PC, they didn't.

yes, we know that ... unfortunately most people here are not playing it on their PC.

[Justin Clark]

Good news, it's just a shame that everybody stopped playing TF2 a while ago.

That said, how many people would be up for some all chewer matches when it's eventually released?

::raises hand::

Seriously, I'm still so very eager to return to TF2 the second those updates hit, that $10 is such the nonfactor at this point

[Spike Marshall]

Me too, I'd be eager for some TF2 when the update is released.

[Jcassady]

Finally!

Be great to hit up some matches with the chewers again. Maybe this time we can use a server that's not located on the Canary Islands.

[Chris Miller]

I'm currently brand new to TF2, so I'm all for some matches with some patient chewers.

[stelios]

Doesn't anyone around here play TF2 on the PC? What kind of madness is this?

[Jcassady]

Doesn't anyone around here play TF2 on the PC? What kind of madness is this?

Well since I'm not a gay atheist (redundant, I know), the answer is no.

[Spike Marshall]

Doesn't anyone around here play TF2 on the PC? What kind of madness is this?

The madness of not being the PC using master race.

[A-Pathetic]

I still haven't played the new maps. I found a low gravity 2Fort map that I'm in love with just because of the possibilities low gravity opened up for spying. Backstabbing a sniper from on top of his head never gets old.

So yeah, I'm playing on the PC.

[Fafhrd]

The madness of not being the PC using master race.

I would've thought that the prospect of tons of free content that console users are going to have to pay for would be enough to drive more people to PC (at least for Valve releases). Weird that it hasn't.

[Justin Clark]

Free/Priced content and better servers were never the issue the issue; the other bullshit that comes with playing a game on a PC is.

[Nate K]

I would've thought that the prospect of tons of free content that console users are going to have to pay for would be enough to drive more people to PC (at least for Valve releases). Weird that it hasn't.

I don't know about anyone else who plays on the 360, but I don't have a PC that's good enough for gaming. The DLC would have to be hundreds of pounds a pop for it to be cheaper to just buy a new PC.

[A-Pathetic]

Free/Priced content and better servers were never the issue the issue; the other bullshit that comes with playing a game on a PC is.

I still don't get this. I game on the Xbox, I game on the PC, and this weird Xbox elitism is so misplaced. I meet just as many idiots on the Xbox as PC, and Valvle squashed all the PC exploits so fast they never impacted me. The only reason I make a choice between the two formats is for how certain games control, and I'll always have issues feeling a bit slow with console controllers on an FPS.

[stelios]

And the hardware requirements thing is pretty much a myth too. At least for TF2. It plays just fine on my 700€ laptop so any reasonable PC bought a few years ago won't have any problems with it.

[Fafhrd]

When people complain about hardware requirements for Source engine games, I'm forced to assume that they're still using Pentium IIs. The engine is not only insanely well optimized (especially now), but it's requirements have never been particularly high. I played Half-Life 2 with everything on high at launch with an Athlon 3000+ and Radeon 9500 Pro. You could pretty easily build a PC capable of running TF2 decently for around the same price as a 360 Elite.

[Spike Marshall]

With me it's not the hardware so much as the fact that PC gamers are hideous to play against.

[Dan]

PC gamers are no worse than console gamers.

You just need to find games with good communities.

[Jcassady]

PC gamers are no worse than console gamers.

I have to disagree. Based on pure assumption and speculation, I'd rather have Bush in office for 8 more years than play with a PC gamer.

[Dan]

That's ridiculous, you're comparing the entire Source crowd, StarCraft fanatics - casual Crysis players and people who still play Total Annihilation and Risk?!

[Justin Clark]

That's ridiculous, you're comparing the entire Source crowd, StarCraft fanatics - casual Crysis players and people who still play Total Annihilation and Risk?!
So, if I'm reading this right, the PC crowd isn't nearly as bad if you're playing the games no born and bred console player would touch with King Ghidora's dick? Gotcha.

[Dan]

Crysis is perfect console material. Especially for the testosterone-filled teenage boys who dominate the console scene.

It's not an unreasonable thing to say "look, gamers in general are cunts - it's nothing to do with your format".

[Jcassady]

PC gamers are cunts. Console gamers are true ladies and gentlemen.

(actually I was just screwing around with the PC gamer thing, except most PC gamers look down on Console gamers, which is funny, but I have no clue if that's the norm).

[Peter Venkman]

That's ridiculous, you're comparing the entire Source crowd, StarCraft fanatics - casual Crysis players and people who still play Total Annihilation and Risk?!

hey, my buddies and I still lan up TA from time to time, good stuff!

You are going to be getting the same type of people on either the 360 or PC, it just depends on the servers you go into.

[Peter Venkman]

PC gamers are cunts. Console gamers are true ladies and gentlemen.

(actually I was just screwing around with the PC gamer thing, except most PC gamers look down on Console gamers, which is funny, but I have no clue if that's the norm).

I give great respect to people who can play first person shooters on a console, I can't aim worth a damn and always end up shooting their feet... To me some games are best made for console, while others work best on PC

[Justin Clark]

Last time I played TF2 on PC, I asked, simply, humbly, what to press to turn the Engineer's buildings around before I set up a dispenser. I mentioned I play on 360 normally, I spent the next 20 minutes getting targeted and offered no protection whenever spies and other undesirables came by, and being told to go back to my faggot system by both sides.

Fuck the PC.

[Peter Venkman]

Last time I played TF2 on PC, I asked, simply, humbly, what to press to turn the Engineer's buildings around before I set up a dispenser. I mentioned I play on 360 normally, I spent the next 20 minutes getting targeted and offered no protection whenever spies and other undesirables came by, and being told to go back to my faggot system by both sides.

Fuck the PC.


OUCH MAN...damn.. that was some lame ass server...sorry about it!

[dontEATnachos]

Here is how I play 2/3rds of the games I ever play: rental. I can't rent PC games.

I know I can pirate/crack them and play them but at least in the early 2000's that always seemed to result in viruses on my PC. And since I'm out of college and using my PC in my home office for my job, losing my hard drive trying to get rid of viruses is no longer really a viable option. Plus, for a while I only owned a Mac.

With the console it's just rent the game for $8 or pay $17 a month for GameFly and then not worry about anything. I don't really notice a huge difference in online communities, although I do love playing on Xbox Live co-op campaigns.

[Justin Clark]

Since I stopped playing Halo 3 and Gears of War, I've had only the bare minimum of asshole moments on XBL. As if I didn't have enough reasons to say goodbye to space marine shooters from now on, there's another.

[Dan]

Console gamers are true ladies and gentlemen.

I'm in awe of this claim.

You all seem to disagree, so i'll assume you've all gotten used to the racial slurs and hate speech on Live.

That's cool. I guess.

[Dan]

Since I stopped playing Halo 3 and Gears of War, I've had only the bare minimum of asshole moments on XBL. As if I didn't have enough reasons to say goodbye to space marine shooters from now on, there's another.

I really do think it's the shooters that suffer this problem. I don't hear any of this stuff in any other genre.

[Jcassady]

I don't understand these claims of slurs and hate speech...you must have been on your PC and thought it was a 360.

PC gamers are scoundrels of the worst degree.

[Dan]

Clearly that's what it was. I hate when I confuse the two.

[Jcassady]

Apology accepted. Maybe next time you should take more care before making hasty derogatory remarks about Live gamers. Of course coming from a PC gamer I'm not surprised.

[Soul Ahn Ice]

I'm always staring at my xbox 360 yelling "why won't you give me mail?!?!" But I mean mail, like the paper kind.

[Dan]

Know what's even worse than that? I own one PC game.

Bugger, what a lousy PC gamer.

[dontEATnachos]

That reminds me of how pissed I was when I found out that my 360 didn't have Minesweeper.

[Justin Clark]

I really do think it's the shooters that suffer this problem. I don't hear any of this stuff in any other genre.

Well, see, I thought it was all shooters too, but for the most part, my experience with Call of Duty 4 on the 360 was pretty stress free as well, the general hazing and well-deserved emotional trauma people tended to give any high voiced kids on their team notwithstanding.

[Dan]

I've been in CoD4 servers on both PSN and Live services where there have been issues. Random, not regular - but definitely 'issues'. Young kids mostly.

It's not difficult to imagine there being idiots on all 3 services. I assumed it wasn't anyway

[Jcassady]

Know what's even worse than that? I own one PC game.

Bugger, what a lousy PC gamer.

Just look at what one PC game does to a person. Now imagine five or six. Those people are fit for a straitjacket.

[Dan]

I concur.

I'm such a bitter bastard. You know what? Maybe i'm the cause of the disruption in my aforementioned online gaming experiences?

Shit, so much good is coming from this thread. I feel like the sharing is beneficial.

EDIT: My PC game? Fallout. Not even multiplayer.

[dontEATnachos]

You know who is worse than PC gamers though? Wii gamers. Those guys are really the most offensive to play with/against. They never respond to ANYTHING you say. And Wii friend codes have contained some of the most racist series of 4 digits numbers I've ever seen in my life.

[Soul Ahn Ice]

Anyone who plays Monopoly is a communist.

[Dan]

Capitalist. Capitalist.

Communists play Tetris.

Or Jenga.

[Jcassady]

Communists play Monopoly to fulfill that repressed human desire to excel. Capitalists fulfill that need in real life.

[Dan]

So yeah. I enjoyed the Orange Box.

[Soul Ahn Ice]

On PC or console?

[Dan]

I don't know, as established - I can't tell formats apart.

The weakest offering was certainly the DS version.

[Jcassady]

No further need to apologize for your mistake, but there was no DS version. This is just more misinformation. This does nothing for your credibility.

[A-Pathetic]

Last time I played TF2 on PC, I asked, simply, humbly, what to press to turn the Engineer's buildings around before I set up a dispenser. I mentioned I play on 360 normally, I spent the next 20 minutes getting targeted and offered no protection whenever spies and other undesirables came by, and being told to go back to my faggot system by both sides.

Fuck the PC.

See, I went to one server to play TF2 when I first got it and all of voice chat and in game messages were racial slurs. Lots of white kids who thought that was the height of funny. But instead of deciding the whole system was flawed, I tried more servers until I found people who I enjoyed playing with. Valve makes it really easy to add servers to a favorites list, and soon I had about a dozen servers that policed the idiots actively and had a fair amount of people usually playing.

I also have played games on Xbox where I've heard nothing but racial slurs in multiplayer (have you really played GTAIV unless it's with the CHUD crew? You take your chances). I just chalk it up to the fact that there are lots of idiots in the world. No sense getting bent out of shape about it, or painting the nice quiet people with that same brush.

And this is why I don't get the weird elitism. Seems like I'm in the minority on CHUD as far as that goes, so that's fine. I'll continue to buy based on which controls make sense on which platform.

[Dan]

No further need to apologize for your mistake, but there was no DS version. This is just more misinformation. This does nothing for your credibility.

I thought we were doing a "thing" where I just go along with whatever you say to stop you whinging, whilst I happily accept that yes - there are people who are abusive on all formats, and you go on believing nobody is abusive on any format bar-pc.

Everything since my 'apology' has since been sarcasm. This isn't a shocking revelation, I was hoping it was that obvious.

And you're right, i'm wrong about the DS version. It was in fact GLORIOUS.

[Peter Venkman]

spies sappin' my post

[Spike Marshall]

In regards to the whole PC vs. Console gamers online thing. I prefer to play on the 360 for the simple reason that it's fucking hard to properly cheat on a 360, people are slightly less elitist pricks on the 360, time spent playing games on the PC is time spent away from surfing porn, and I've got a friends list on the 360 which makes every game fucking hilarious.

I mean me, Eric, Justin and Nate must have played Team Fortress nearly every fucking night for four months after the game came out and it was only just starting to get old.

[Dan]

My personal preference is the same Spike - cheating is definitely less. Although, I think another bonus is that everyone's playing on the same hardware.

CoD4 on a low-end PC makes sniper ghille suits invisible, par example.

[ryoken]

In regards to the whole PC vs. Console gamers online thing. I prefer to play on the 360 for the simple reason that it's fucking hard to properly cheat on a 360, people are slightly less elitist pricks on the 360, time spent playing games on the PC is time spent away from surfing porn, and I've got a friends list on the 360 which makes every game fucking hilarious.

I mean me, Eric, Justin and Nate must have played Team Fortress nearly every fucking night for four months after the game came out and it was only just starting to get old.

Eh, I got "Orange Box" for the 360 a few weeks ago because i got tired of playing on the PC because of hardware issues and online play, actually; Should really start playing TF2 on live, dammit.
As far as I go, online gaming on the 360 is more pleasant than in the PC world; worst Ive experienced in Xbox Live is the usual "Is Chile like, in Brazil?" morons or the 12 year olds trying to act tough by being macho dicks...there was much more a-holes and douchebags on the pc online world, which Ive gladly left behind.
(Although I gotta admit that playing as Medic pretty much makes you everyone's target)

[A-Pathetic]

worst Ive experienced in Xbox Live is the usual "Is Chile like, in Brazil?" morons

You can't leave us in suspense like that.

Is it?

[gravedigger]

I'm in awe of this claim.

You all seem to disagree, so i'll assume you've all gotten used to the racial slurs and hate speech on Live.

That's cool. I guess.

The thing is that Cassady mostly plays online with the CHUD crew. We all wear top-hats and drink tea whilst we shoot each other in the face. It's all quite civilized, you see.

[Peter Venkman]

"Is Chile like, in Brazil?"

what the hell does this even mean?

[ryoken]

You can't leave us in suspense like that.

Is it?

Lemme check Google Earth....nope, its not, since Tati's homeland is between us and Brasil.

[ryoken]

"Is Chile like, in Brazil?"

what the hell does this even mean?

It means that I wish I could shove a world map up certain people asses...oh, and that Geography isnt the average Live user's forte.

[Alex Riviello]

The thing is that Cassady mostly plays online with the CHUD crew. We all wear top-hats and drink tea whilst we shoot each other in the face. It's all quite civilized, you see.

Not to derail the thread any further (too late) but how would people feel about specific CHUD (MCP) nights? Like- COD4 Wednesday, Orange Box Thursdays, GTA Fridays, and so on. I can even organize something on the main page if it takes off. Plus, free crumpets to go with your Earl Gray.

[Fafhrd]

Is crumpet delivery via LIVE an unannounced feature of the new Dashboard update?

[Overlord]

Team Fortress 2's learning curve seems ridiculous.

[mediumdave]

Sounds great Alex. But only if I get crumpets. And only if we occasionally play Crimson Skies as well.